All Posts by alex dobie

With any new mobile subscription comes the requisite credit check, and for customers with low credit scores, the potential to be denied their service plan or phone of choice. To smooth out this process, Three UK has revealed that it'll soon introduce pre-credit checks to give potential customers "an indication" of whether they'll pass a credit check "without negatively affecting" credit ratings...

Could this stylus-equipped G3 be LG's Galaxy Note 4 competitor?
With the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 due to arrive within the next month, it appears LG is preparing its own stylus-equipped handset to challenge its local rival. The image above is taken from an official LG promotional video for the LG G3 Beat; at the end of that trailer there's an unfamiliar pen-toting handset shown alongside the two...

Motorola confirmed back at the Moto E launch event that its budget handset will be updated to the next major version of Android, but until now there's been nothing explicit on Android L for any other Motorola phones. Motorola's Punit Soni was quick to put one Moto X owner's fears to rest, however, confirming on Google+ that Moto's 2013 flagship will indeed be updated to the next version of...

Following the debut of its own-brand Android tablet, budget supermarket chain Aldi has announced that it'll begin selling a smartphone from the same manufacturer this Thursday. Through its "Special buys" program, Aldi will offer up the Medion Life E4001 for £79.99 outright. What does that get you? Well, in a world where the Moto E exists, quite a bit less than you'd hope for...

It appears any optimism at HTC in the wake of its profitable second quarter could be short-lived. The company has just reported its unaudited monthly revenue figures for July 2014, showing a sharp decline compared to the previous month, and the same period in 2013. In July the Taiwanese phone maker brought in NT $10.605 billion ($354 million), down from NT$21.917 billion in June, and NT$15.728...

Find out what Android tech and other gadgets Alex packs when it's time to hit the road
It's been almost a year since our last round of "gear bag" features, where we laid out the stuff we use in our day-to-day work, as well as covering trade shows and any other events we might end up at. That's a long time in tech, and so in the run up to IFA and CTIA this September, we're going to bring you an...

Update: It's now officially available on any device running Android 4.1 or higher.
The Google Now Launcher has received a small update today, and while there's nothing obviously new in the app itself, we're seeing some interesting changes to the launcher's compatibility listings on Google Play. While the changes still seem to be rolling out, we're now seeing compatibility for devices like the...

'Fake ID' is an important find, but Google Play and Play Services updates mean many users are already protected
Today security research firm BlueBox — the same company that uncovered the so-called Android "Master Key" vulnerability — has announced the discovery of a bug in the way Android handles the identity certificates used to sign applications. The vulnerability, which BlueBox has dubbed "...

Google Now has supported reminders on Android and on the web for some time, but with the advent of Android Wear, making sure you don't forget important stuff is easier than ever. And there are a few different ways to go about setting a notification on Android Wear — including on the LG G Watch, Moto 360 and the Samsung Gear Live — which we'll dig into after the break.

Metal or plastic? Ultrapixels or lasers? QHD or 1080p? It's time to choose between two of the hottest Android phones out there
This is one of the big questions we find ourselves being asked by smartphone buyers — which is better, the LG G3 or the HTC One M8? Both of these high-end Android phones have captured the imagination of enthusiasts and technology fans since their announcement, and now...

Technically Android 4.4.3, but with security fixes from 4.4.4
Just days after the U.S. unlocked and developer edition HTC One M8 got its update to Android 4.4.3 KitKat, the new firmware is today starting to hit unlocked devices in parts of Europe. The over-the-air update to software version 2.22.401.4, weighing in at a whopping 613MB, includes a wealth of changes and fixes...

HTC swaps metal for plastic in this re-imagining of its 2014 flagship
Over the past year, HTC has made a name for itself with high-quality metal smartphones in the HTC One series. Flagships like the HTC One M8 and before it the M7 elevated smartphone design and build quality to new heights, even if the impact on HTC's financials haven't been as pronounced as the company might have hoped....

Motorola's Moto G recently made the jump to Android 4.4.4 KitKat in some countries, and over on the Android Central Moto G forums, our community members are getting to grips with the update, which adds a new dialer app, Motorola Alert and video recording tweaks.
Here's a quick breakdown of some of the top threads for Android 4.4.4 on the Moto G right now...

Latest M8 update is Android 4.4.4 in all but name
Right on schedule, unlocked and developer edition HTC One M8 devices in the U.S. are today receiving an update to Android 4.4.3 KitKat. The upgrade, which according to HTC also includes the security fixes rolled out in 4.4.4, is being pushed out over the air in the form of a 592MB update package.

The unlocked European Samsung Galaxy S5 (SM-G900F) is today receiving an over-the-air update with "improved performance." It's the second major update for the European version of Samsung's 2014 flagship, the first having arrvied a month after the device first went on sale. The upgrade comes in two parts — first, a 194MB update, then immediately after, another 1MB update, both updates touting...

The European LG G3 — the LG-D855 if you want to get technical — has today received its first over-the-air update, landing on firmware version 10e. Unlocked G3s in the UK and parts of Asia, where the D855 is also sold, seem to be first with this update; other countries and carrier variants likely to get the update in the days and weeks ahead. It's not entirely clear what's new in v10e, but the...

The HTC One E8 is upon us, and we've got our hands on the lighter, polycarbonate version of HTC's flagship targeted at Russia, India and parts of Asia. As we've pointed out in our coverage so far, the E8 is essentially the internals of the HTC One M8 in a plastic case with a different camera. But beyond that there are actually quite a few smaller differences to get to grips with. For instance,...

Turns out an M8 in a plastic shell is still a pretty awesome phone.
A couple of months after the launch of the HTC One M8 came word of a new plastic-clad variant aimed at emerging markets — the HTC One E8. Looking like a mashup of various HTC designs from the past year or so, the E8 aims to translate the core of the M8's high-end experience into a less expensive package. Right now HTC is...

Gesture controls are becoming increasingly common in Android phones — being able to control certain features by moving or flipping your phone dates back to the early days of HTC Sense. However it's easy to overlook the LG G3's gesture controls if you're not aware of them, and there are a few useful time-savers included.

Korean electronics giants Samsung and LG compete in just about every area in which they operate. In the smartphone space, though, Samsung's Android-powered lineup remains top dog. Not only is it the world's top handset manufacturer, but it's Galaxy range, headed by the Galaxy S5, also represents the most familiar face of Android in the eyes of consumers. LG has had a comparatively shaky start...

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